Former Johnson & Johnson Executive's Guilty Plea Leads to a Year in Prison

Robert John Dougall, former director of marketing at DuPuy International, a British subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), pleaded guilty Wednesday in a London court to paying $7 million in bribes to Greek doctors.

Dougall admitted to using commissions paid prior to the sale of products as a way to convince Greek surgeons to use DuPuy products. The commissions were for sales of orthopedic products made by Medec SA, which distributes J&J products in Greece. Some of the payments made to DuPuy were said to be "incentive payments," which were to be used to convince surgeons to use the products. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) released a statement saying that the money was sent to a company called Madison management Ltd., which is owned by the same corporation as Medec.

Dougall, who according to the SFO didn't benefit personally from the payments, was charged in December 2009 with conspiracy to corrupt and was sentenced today to 12 months in jail. J&J, based in New Jersey, wasn't available for comment.